Fodor's Expert Review Roland's Garden

Foodies seeking the quirky and unexpected will revel in this secret garden (occupying the former Butterfly Farm space). Chef Roland Schoefer arrived in Cayman a quarter century ago after running top-notch restaurants in Heidelberg, Germany. His idiosyncratic touch engendered a series of successes, but this free spirit abandoned the corporate cooker. Now Roland advertises, "No menu, no liquor (B.Y.O.B.), no invoice, no restaurant." He cooks to order for the evening's exact number of reservations (up to 18 guests); he'll try to accommodate dietary and allergic restrictions, but don't dare tell him your dislikes. There's no menu: what he prepares is what you get, generally a five-course meal incorporating whatever's fresh from the market and his fishing buddies. He'll sit at your table, a Yankees cap replacing the typical toque, explaining each dish in delectable detail. Perhaps it's tuna carpaccio with pesto and feta, followed by homemade sausage, segueing into classic Wiener schnitzel with spaetzle, climaxing with a to-die-for strudel. The setting is equally eclectic: a virtual jungle filled with parrots, anchors, ship's lanterns, rigging, beach umbrellas, rotating imaginatively hung artworks, and giant standing fan to blow away mosquitoes. The pièce de résistance? "Pay me whatever you think it's worth," winks Roland, passing around a carved driftwood bowl, and he's serious.